Ottawa’s gambling, and only time will tell if they’re gambling wisely. I don’t really like this deal from their perspective, although the second round pick probably makes them the winner. Here are Leclaire’s numbers since the lockout:

Leclaire’s had one good season, one decent season, one bad season, and one injured season. Unfortunately he’s getting paid for the good season, and he’s getting that paycheck until 2010-11 on a three season deal worth 11.4 million (3.8M/yr).

As for Columbus, they’re paying steeply for a 26-year old who has only once surpassed the 50-point mark. Here are his numbers from the past three years:

Vermette’s been playing relatively hard competition this year (ranked 5th among Senators regulars), which is about where he checked in last year. He’s in the final season of a 2-year 2.76M/yr (that's cap hit- in actual salary Vermette will recieve 3M this season) contract. Vermette’s definitely a decent player, but not worth the assets paid to acquire him.

Let’s have no illusions about this trade. One of the most valuable commodities acquired in this deal doesn’t show up in the trade summary: the cap space that Columbus acquired by moving Pascal Leclaire.

[8:40 MST] – TLP

How Bryan Murray still has a job is an absolute mystery to me. His "Shenatorsh" are 12th in the East and 16 points out of a playoff spot. What a moron.

[8:44 MST] – Jonathan Willis

TSN is reporting that the Senators continue to make moves, signing Filip Kuba to a three season contract worth 3.7M/yr. GM Bryan Murray apparently has a deal in place to move Chris Neil if they are unable to come to an agreement on a contract today.

Again from TSN, the Toronto Maple Leafs have also broken off contract talks with Dominic Moore, and will look to move him.

Behind the Net tells us that Kuba has been playing second-pairing opposition for most of this season, and he’s stood out on a bad Ottawa team this season. 3.7-million is steep and the term is long, but it really isn’t that bad of a contract.

Ottawa’s already added 7.5-million in cap obligations for 2010-11, though, and that could end up hurting them in the long run.

[8:48 MST] – Jonathan Willis

TLP's bang on about Bryan Murray, speech impediment and all. The networks are saying that the Senators could end up being the biggest sellers on the day, and Bryan Murray's right about the fourth last guy I'd want in charge of this exercise (in order: Mike Milbury, Deep Oil, Doug MacLean).

In all seriousness, this is a pivotal moment in the Senators future, and Murray could sink them for the next three years today if he doesn't do his job right.

[9:00 MST] – Jonathan Willis

Tim Connolly signed to a two-year, 9-million dollar contract. That’s a fair bit of money for a guy more injury-prone than Mathieu Roy. Injury history, from TSN:

That’s just from 2006-07 on. He missed the entire 2003-04 season with a concussion, and has had a host of other injuries to boot. He’s not a safe place to spend money.

[9:27 MST] – TLP

TSN reporting that that long-rumored Olli Jokinen-to-Calgary rumor might FINALLY happen. The Coyotes, obviously, would be unwilling to take on salary since they're broke as a joke. So what would the Flames give up? There was talk earlier that they were dangling their first-rounder (almost certain to be mid-to-late 20s) for a defenseman. You'd think that'd be the jumping-off point, and probably add a goaltending prospect (Leland Irving?) and a forward prospect (not Mikael Backlund pleeeeeease).

Good news: Jokinen has NEVER played in a playoff game. Wooooooo!

[9:31 MST] - Jonathan Willis

I'm not at all convinced the Flames will need to pay all that much. Keep in mind that Jokinen was dealt for Ballard and Boynton last summer. Maybe a roster player and a draft pick.

[9:40 MST] – TLP

Jordan Leopold apparently coming back to Calgary for Lawrence Nycholat (see ya), a prospect and a second-rounder. Leopold's second go-round in Calgary, obviously, but he's a great addition for very little going the other way. Even if he gets injured, he gives the Flames an upgrade on the second pairing and can lug the puck. Sounds just fantastic to me.

[9:49 MST] - Jonathan Willis

Any word on who the prospect is? What I'm seeing is Nycholat and a 2nd round pick, which is a little pricey but not bad. If there's a decent prospect tossed in, Colorado wins hands down.

[9:52 MST] – TLP

Prospect is free agent signing Ryan Wilson, a defenseman, who sucks (4-16-20 in 60 games in the AHL this year). And the pick is Montreal's second-rounder acquired in the Alex Tanguay trade.

Flames get a pretty good player for almost nothing.

[9:55 MST] - Jonathan Willis

That's not a bad deal at all then. Calgary evidently feels they can go on a cup run this season, and I'm not sure they're wrong. San Jose's pretty formidable, while whoever comes out of the East (New Jersey) will be a good team too, but Calgary's got to think that with a little luck they'd be in the thick of things. Detroit's goaltending is shoddy, and anything can happen in a seven game series.

I wonder if Lombardi could be the centre-piece of a Jokinen deal?

[9:56 MST] – TLP

To answer a question from the comments (up here and for posterity so it doesn't get lost in the shuffle), Leopold's cap hit for the remainder of the season is about $375k. Leaves the Flames with about $825k or so to try to acquire Jokinen, whose remaining cap hit is$1.3 million. A total salary of about $2 million would have to go the other way to make the numbers work.

Matt Lombardi, for the record, makes $1.8.

[10:01 MST] - Jonathan Willis

Curtis S. in the comments passed on word that the Penguins have traded minor-league defenseman Danny Richmond to the Blues for minor-league defenseman Andy Wozniewski. I'd have commented on it sooner, but it's a fairly insignificant deal.

[10:05 MST] — TLP

Some moves:

Phoenix sends Mikael Tellqvist to the Sabres for a fourth-round pick as Ryan Miller insurance.

Toronto claims Marty Gerber off re-entry waivers from the Sens (Ottawa still pays half his salary) and Eric Reitz off regular waivers off New York Rangers.

Pittsburgh claims Craig Adams off waivers from Pittsburgh.

Dallas claims Brendan Morrison off waivers from Anaheim.

Who gives a crap?

[10:07 MST] - Jonathan Willis

Just to comment on Sportsnet's rumour that the Oilers are after Slava Kozlov and Colby Armstrong - of course they are. Atlanta has those two, and I imagine the Oilers would be interested in Marty Reasoner t0o, and that makes them a natural trading partner. Plus, Waddell stated the other day that he wanted live bodies in any trade, and the Oilers have a bunch of those (Nilsson, Pouliot, Schremp, Jacques, etc.) that are presumably available.

[10:16am] - Kent W.

With the Flames acquiring Leopold, they can likely deal depth from the back-end for help up front now. Im thinking one of Cory Sarich or Jim Vandermeer has suddenly become trade bait. Probably more the former than the latter since I can't see anybody having much interest in Vandermeer given his skill-set and pricetag.

[10:32 MST] - Jonathan Willis

Just to go a little further on the Leafs moves - what were they thinking? I can't come up with a reason for the team to grab Gerber - if they want to tank, just play Joseph every game until the end of the year, and if they've deluded themselves into thinking they have a shot at the playoffs, Gerber ain't the answer. Reitz is fine as a warm-body fill-in for whichever defenseman ends up getting traded.

And I very much doubt that Brendan Morrison can fill the Brad Richards-sized hole in Dallas' lineup.

[10:32 MST] - Lord Wanye Von Gretz IV

Don't kid yourselves. This is going to go down as the most boring trade deadline in history if something doesn't happen soon. We didn't want to weigh in with any nonsense unless something of note occurred but seeing as that is getting less and less awesome happening yet let's just leave it with this:

Imagine you paid your GMs and Coaches by the win? How sweet would that be?

*runs back under a pile of coats on the floor, stares at TV from across the room*

[10:42 MST] - TLP

There it is.

Jokinen to Calgary for Matt Lombardi, Brandon Prust and a first-round pick. Like it a lot. Gives the Flames more depth down the middle and a big body to line up against the other big centermen in the West. Plus, Jokinen will have ZERO pressure to be "the guy" in Calgary, which I think is huge for him.

Jokinen likes to shoot the puck, the Flames are fourth in the league in shots. It's a good fit and better cover while the second line is out injured.

Like this trade a lot.

[10:52 MST] – Jonathan Willis

The Bruins have traded forward Petteri Nokaleinen to Anaheim for defenseman Steve Montador. Montador is a pending unrestricted free agent, and makes 800K this season. Petteri Nokelainen makes 850K per season this year and next before becoming an arbitration-eligible RFA. Here are their numbers for the last three seasons:

According to Behind the Net, Nokelainen’s been playing 4th line opposition, which is about what we would expect from him. His Corsi number is surprisingly good, even for Boston, but he’s never shown much in the way of offense at any level. I’d think that he maxes out as a useful third-line forward, and maybe doesn’t even reach that level.

Montador’s been playing soft opponents, but he’s been making hay while doing so. His +/- is even more impressive when you discount short-handed goals against and empty net goals for and against (+20). He’s an excellent third pairing defenseman, and the Bruins deserve credit for turning a fringe prospect into a useful rental.

[11:03 MST] – TLP

Some clarification on that Jokinen deal: the Flames gave up a first-round pick, yes, but TSN is saying that the Flames can choose whether they want it to be the first-rounder this year or next, which gives them some solid flexibility. That decision, by the way, can be made on draft day.

Calgary also gets Phoenix's third-round pick.

[11:10 MST] – Jonathan Willis

As mentioned above, the Flames have picked up Olli Jokinen and a 3rd round pick for Matt Lombardi, Brandon Prust, and a 1st round pick. Biggest trade of the day – wait! Biggest trade of the day so far.

According to Behind the Net, Jokinen has been playing relatively soft (ranked 8th among PHX forwards) opposition, something that was the case in Florida as well. We can knock him a bit because of that, and we can knock him a bit more since his big numbers came in the Southeast Division, and then we can knock him on top of that because he’s never played in the playoffs – wait! Never played in the playoffs so far.

Still, there’s no doubt that Jokinen is a very good player – an all-around talent with size and some grit and the ability to score goals. I think he’ll probably get slotted in on the second line behind Langkow/Iginla, and he should be able to do very well in that position. He also has comfort/familiarity with Mike Keenan. I don’t think there’s any doubt that Calgary has established themselves as a contending team this season. Jokinen has one year left after this season at a cap hit of 5.25 million, so one would imagine Calgary’s going to be penny-pinching this off-season.

Lombardi’s been playing minutes similar in difficulty to Jokinen’s, and putting up decent numbers in the process. He’s relatively young, he’s very cheap (another year at 1.82 million) and he should fit in well in Phoenix. And by fit in well, I mean be yet another young, cheap player on a perpetually rebuilding franchise. I don’t think there’s any doubt that this was primarily a financial move by the Coyotes.

Prust makes 500K next season, and there’s no need to go into detailed analysis here. He’s an enforcer, and that’s probably all he’ll ever be.

When the first round pick gets tossed into this discussion, I think it’s fair to say that both teams did well on this. The Coyotes jettisoned money for youth and futures, while the Flames bolstered their lineup for a cup run.

[11:24 MST] – TLP

Mark Recchi to the Bruins. "NIIIIIICE," yells Pierre McGuire from the background.

Also, the Kings re-signed Erik Ersberg to a two-year deal and Chris Neil's contract talks with the Senators have broken down.

[11:33 MST] – TLP

Further details on the Recchi-to-Boston deal: It's Recchi and Tampa's 2010 second-round pick (likely to be high) for defensive prospect Matt Lashoff (not un-useful in his 16 games in the NHL this year) and marginal forward prospect (I peg him as a career fourth-liner/AHL superstar) Martins Karsums is the deal.

[11:56 MST] – TLP

A couple minutes ago, the Denver Post's resident chucklehead Adrian Dater reported that Peter Forsberg was in Denver and would retire tonight ahead of the Avs/Wings game. The Avs have since said that's not the case. Good work by Dater once again.

Also, the Penguins have traded for Bill Guerin, but details are pending.
[12:06 MST] – TLP
Billy Guerin trade deets: It's for a fifth-round pick right now. But if the Pens make the playoffs, it's a fourth rounder. If they win a playoff round, it's a third-round pick.
Very unconventional.

[12:09 MST] – Jonathan Willis

As TLP mentioned above, the Bruins have acquired Mark Recchi and a 2nd-round pick for Matt Lashoff and Martin Karsums.

I took a look at Recchi yesterday at my other site when Matheson mentioned him as a possibility for the Oilers. Borrowing from there:

Starting with Recchi, a quick look at his advanced stats tells us that he's been playing surprisingly tough competition (4th among regular forwards). His PTS/60 at even-strength (1.90) would put him third on the Oilers. More impressive, his powerplay PTS/60 (4.43) leads the Lightning.
He's definitely a useful player, particularly on the powerplay, but he's getting outscored at a nasty rate (3.44 GAON/60), and he's older than morse code.

He’ll be another weapon on the Boston power-play, and a bit player at even-strength I should think. The Bruins did well to snag Tampa Bay’s 2nd round pick in this deal, which is going to be a good one.

Nothing special here. Karsums junior numbers were awful, so it seems unlikely that he’ll be a big scorer in the NHL anytime soon, despite his decent AHL numbers. TLP’s assessment of him as a fringe NHL’er/superstar AHL’er is probably bang on. He’ll likely have a nice KHL career at some point, although he may surprise and play a significant role on a team as weak as Tampa Bay.

Lots of nice results for Lashoff, particularly in the AHL. He’ll be a nice fit in Tampa Bay, and is a legitimate blue-chip prospect.

Still, I’d call this a hands-down win for the Bruins. They get Recchi for virtually nothing, while replacing Lashoff with a high draft pick in 2010. The Lightning downgrade, but save a few hundred grand on Recchi’s contract the rest of the way.

[12:21 MST] - Jonathan Willis

I see there's some anger from Oilers fans about the price for Guerin and the Oilers lack of involvement. That really doesn't bother me. What does bother me is that the Oilers couldn't be bothered to ship off Rob Schremp and Theo Peckham to Tampa Bay for Mark Recchi and a 2nd round pick. That's a trade that they don't lose now or in the future.

[12:27 MST] - TLP

I get the argument that the Oilers should trade for an impact player, but really, what for? Tambellini is making a good call by sitting on his hands. The bottom half of the West's playoff teams are all in this big ball of general cruddiness and will likely get stomped by the top four teams in a best-of-7. So why give up assets that could be worth more at the draft to ensure you sneak into a playoff series you have little chance of winning?

Stay smart, Tambellini. You might sneak in anyway simply because everyone else in the 4-12 range sucks pretty much as badly as the Oilers do.

[12:32 MST] - Jonathan Willis

Because Lashoff, Peckham and Tampa bay's 2nd round pick have pretty much equivalent value. I see no problem with trading a guy with little value and no Oilers' future (Schremp) for a rental.

Ummm, Dan Carcillo to the Flyers for Scottie Upshall and a second. Cuz I was just saying that the Flyers needed to get a lot more thuggery. That's... odd. Didn't they JUST trade Steve Downie?

[12:47 MST] - TLP

Nik Antropov to the New York Rangersfor a second-rounder and a conditional pick. Yawn.

[12:54 MST] - TLP

My friend points out to me that Antropov is instantly the Rangers' No. 2 leading scorer, one point off the lead, and leads them in goals with 21. That is HILARIOUS.

[1:00 MST] - Jonathan Willis

Upshall's an RFA making just over 1.25 million per season, while Carcillo is signed for two years. Nice move by Phoenix to make Philadelphia pay for a slightly rosier financial picture.

[12:59 MST] - TLP

Bouwmeester is officially staying. No surprise there.

[12:59 MST] - TLP

Derek Morris to the Rangers is official. No word on the return just yet.

Good luck with that, Tortorella.

[1:03 MST] - TLP

The Coyotes got Dmitri Kalinin, Nigel Dawes and Petr Prucha for D-Mo. Which is a ridiculously good return.

And apparently Dominic Moore has been dealt... somewhere.

[1:08 MST] - TLP

Dominic Moore to Buffalo for the second-round pick they previously acquired from Carolina.

Atlanta's Erik Christensen to Anaheim for prospect Eric O'Dell.

Chris Neil was not traded either. Which is what I get for listening to Sportsnet.

[1:13 MTS] - Jonathan Willis

It's early yet, and there may be more stuff coming down the pipe, but I think the clear winner today is.... the Phoenix Coyotes.

[1:31 MST] - TLP

Steve Eminger to Florida. Noah Welch and a third-rounder back to Tampa. Decent trade to shore up the back end of their blue line.

[1:43 MST] - TLP

I go microwave some chinese food and the whole place goes crazy. Four trades came down in five minutes.

The most recent first: Travis Moen and Kent Huskins to San Jose for ... something. Added grit for the Sharks.

The others are as follows:

Sami Pahlsson to Chicago for James Wisniewski

Kyle McLaren to Philly for a sixth-round pick

Kevin Lalande to Columbus for a fourth-round pick

Where'd everyone go?

[1:55 MST] - TLP

Whoa the Oilers finally make their move in a three-way deal that sends LA's Patrick O'Sullivan to Edmonton. No further details are available.

Repeat: Edmonton gets Patrick O'Sullivan in a three-way trade with LA and Carolina.

The details on that Moen/Huskins trade are that the Sharks sent back Boston University captain Nick Bonino, junior goalie Timo Pielmeier and a conditional pick.

[2:00 MST] - TLP

To clarify: Patrick O'Sullivan and Calgary's second-round pick (they got it in the Cammalleri deal) from LA to Carolina for Justin Williams, who is basically done for the year, and Carolina flips O'Sullivan to the Oil for Erik Cole and a fifth. Cole and Eric Staal are long-time runnin' buddies.

[2:20 MST] - TLP

Edmonton also acquired Ales Kotalik for a second-round pick. These are not moves the Oilers should be making. That may or may not have been Carolina's second-round pick.

Another trade is Olaf Kolzig, Jamie Heward, Andy Rogers and a fourth-round to Toronto pick for a scrub run by the name of Richard Petoit.It's important to note thatall these guys are pretty much injured.TSN explains that, because everyone involved is done for the year this is basically an exchange of $500k for a fourth-round pick.

Jonathan Willis is a freelance writer.
He currently works for Oilers Nation, Sportsnet, the Edmonton Journal and Bleacher Report.
He's co-written three books and worked for myriad websites, including Grantland, ESPN, The Score, and Hockey Prospectus. He was previously the founder and managing editor of Copper & Blue.

*throws monitor through the window and goes to get lunch he needed like 3 hours ago but was waiting for the stupid Oilers to do something good not trade Erik Cole to Carolina like Brownlee said they would days ago*

From Wikipedia
Patrick O’Sullivan (born February 1 1985, Winston-Salem, North Carolina) is an American ice hockey forward for the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League.
HOW IS IT UPDATED SO FAST!!!!!

I don't want to alarm anybody, but, a few years back, I traded and got Mathieu Garon on my Playstation Oilers team, and what happened in real life? The Oilers got Garon. And currently in my Xbox NHL, the Oilers have Kotalik. COINCIDENCE!!!!!!!!!!!

Cole becomes Kotalik. Same size. Simular stats. Both UFA's...
How on earth did Tambellini score O'Sullivan for a 2nd round pick? OMG! MY NEW HERO! This is the kind of manoevering that undoes a lot of the stupidity of the last three years! I LIKE O'SULLIVAN! HE'S AWESOME!

I really like the deal! O'Sullivan has two years left on a deal (09-10 and 10-11)that sees him get paid like 2.925 mill a season (www.nhlscap.com). There was no way we'd be able to get Cole for that cheap and besides, the production difference bewteen Cole (16-11-27) and O'Sullivan (14-23-37) is better for the Oilers. Go Tambo!

O'Sullivan can play left wing on the first line... It's too bad he doesn't shoot right (Hemmer one-timers) but, Oh well! Frolov out of L.A. would have been better... But O'Sullivan AND Kotalik for Cole! No Brainer Hands Down WWWWIIIIIIINNNNN for the OIL. Things are looking up.

This is intereting to me that a 2nd round pick is worth more to Buffalo than even Robert Nilson is. It's like Peter Griffin when he could have had a boat or what was in the mystery box. Not to say that Nilson is like a boat (except for the fact that he putters around the ice). My point is that Buffalo took the mystery box.

the Menace wrote:
did mcguire just say that we essentially traded pitkinan AND cole for o’sullivan? in my mind, we essentially traded pitkinan for o’sullivan.
THANK YOU lol
i was just bitching about that… at what point did we have both those guys? lol that made zero sense the guys a moron

It's like I traded a dollar for four quarters, then I traded those for 10 dimes. Pierre comes along and says, "Double Dion! He just traded a dollar and four quarters for 10 dimes!".
My sources tell me he's a wanker.

And now Kotalik for a 2nd rounder, a rental for sure as he is a ufa come july1. But who knows maybe he'll like palying here and resign? stranger things have happend. So far I like the trades, I think it make us a little stronger right now.